Optimize the DRP for Business-Critical Analytics
As analytics become more critical to business processes, whether it's big data or “small” data, your DRP needs to keep up.
- The criticality of analytics is often not clearly defined as it evolves from simply collecting data to generating insights that drive business decisions.
- As analytics and its source data continue to grow, it’s also too costly to simply apply the same backup and DR strategy to all of your data.
- The compute power required to drive analytics engines presents yet another potentially costly challenge for DR planning.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Business users who depend on analytics are not thinking about DR. IT needs to be proactive to understand when analytics evolve from “nice to have” to critical, before a disaster occurs.
- Not all source data and/or generated analytics require the same DR strategy (e.g. depending on to what extent historical data is used to drive analytics and how long it takes to regenerate analytics).
- Old decommissioned servers, often used to provision DR sites, may not provide the required performance for analytics engines.
Impact and Result
- Start by defining business process workflows to identify when and how analytics are being used and whether analytics can simply be regenerated or deferred.
- Evaluate the criticality of source data and generated analytics, based on business requirements, to determine appropriate recovery time and recovery point objectives.
- Adapt your existing DRP and DR solution to meet the storage, velocity, and compute requirements for critical analytics.
Member Testimonials
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10.0/10
Overall Impact
$59,849
Average $ Saved
10
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Synergi Partners
Guided Implementation
10/10
$59,849
10
Workshop: Optimize the DRP for Business-Critical Analytics
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Map Out Key Business Processes
The Purpose
- Identify critical business processes that rely on analytics data.
- Determine where within the business process is analytics data critical and what the business impact is if the analytics data was not available during downtime.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Define analytics data dependencies within critical business processes.
- Uncover knowledge gaps where the business is leveraging analytics data in a way that IT is not aware of.
Activities
Outputs
Document critical business processes.
- Document a prioritized list of key business processes.
Map out data-driven business processes.
- Create visual business process documentation.
Determine where analytics data becomes critical in the business process.
- Identify data dependencies within the business process.
Module 2: Initiate the Data Criticality Assessment
The Purpose
- Establish a program to evaluate which data sets warrant higher availability.
- Identify and document which repositories currently hold critical analytics data.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Differentiate levels of criticality within data sets and identify the most critical analytics data.
- Determine which repositories should be given the highest priority.
Activities
Outputs
Create the data criticality inventory scheme.
- Organized data criticality schema.
Identify and describe data repositories.
- Documented list of data repositories.
Begin documenting data sets in the data criticality inventory.
Module 3: Complete the Data Criticality Assessment
The Purpose
- Document all critical analytics data sets into the data criticality inventory tool.
- Determine DR requirements for each specific data set.
- Evaluate potential DR solutions based on DR requirements.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Catalog of critical analytics data sets that are matched to each repository.
- Differentiate between each data set and prioritize available resources.
- Overview available options and select a best-fit solution.
Activities
Outputs
Complete the data criticality inventory.
- Finalize the Criticality Inventory Tool.
Assign RTO and RPO requirements based on business impact.
- Updated business impact analysis.
Assess the recommended recovery solutions based on DR requirements.
- Review DR solution recommendations.
Module 4: Optimize the Disaster Recovery Plan
The Purpose
- Define an appropriate deployment model for the desired DR solution.
- Garner executive support for current and future DR projects.
- Document the necessary project steps to implement the desired DR solution.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Select a DR solution that fits into your current DR environment and management appetite for DR initiatives.
- Level set people, process, and technology requirements for the DR solution.
- Organize tasks and determine FTE gaps or budget gaps within the implementation plan.
Activities
Outputs
Review the DR solution selection methodology.
- Select the appropriate DR solution based on a benefits/costs analysis.
Craft the Executive Presentation Deck.
- Create a tailored executive presentation which summarizes progress to date and future initiatives.
Complete the Project Planning and Prioritization Tool.
- Prioritized list of projects with FTE and budget analysis.
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Guided Implementation 1: Identify critical analytics in business processes
- Call 1: Evaluate the criticality of each business process as it relates to business impact.
- Call 2: Leverage tabletop planning exercises to map out business processes.
- Call 3: Determine where the critical business process requires analytics data.
Guided Implementation 2: Determine critical analytics DR requirements
- Call 1: Leverage the Data Criticality Inventory Tool to determine current data criticality and location.
- Call 2: Review the results of the data criticality assessment.
- Call 3: Interpret the results of the data criticality assessment and compare against current DR solution.
Guided Implementation 3: Update the DR solution
- Call 1: Leverage the Evaluate Cloud, Co-lo, and In-House DR Deployment Models blueprint to optimize current DR solution.
- Call 2: Craft an executive presentation plan to keep executives engaged.
- Call 3: Use the Project Planning and Prioritization Tool to document next steps.
Contributors
- Dr. Bernard A. Jones, Business Continuity Consultant – BC Management/B. Jones BCP Consulting, LLC
- Steve Tower, Management Consultant, Disaster Recovery Plans & Assessments
- Jack Norris, SVP, Data & Applications, MapR
- Three additional contributors who wished to remain anonymous
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Develop a Business Continuity Plan
Mitigate the Risk of Cloud Downtime and Data Loss
Ensure DRP and BCP Compliance With Industry Standards
Select the Optimal Disaster Recovery Deployment Model
Take a Realistic Approach to Disaster Recovery Testing
Implement Crisis Management Best Practices
Create Visual SOP Documents that Drive Process Optimization, Not Just Peace of Mind
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10 Secrets for Successful Disaster Recovery in the Cloud
Develop a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan
Reinforce End-User Security Awareness During Your COVID-19 Response
Execute an Emergency Remote Work Plan
Prepare Your Organization to Successfully Embrace the “New Normal”
Responsibly Resume IT Operations in the Office
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